Noisy Patna!

These days noise pollution has become one of the major problems in Patna. It affects health and behaviour.

Narrow roads are one of the major causes of noise pollution in Patna. Here, two vehicles cannot move parallel at the same time, in a one way road traffic flows from both the sides, traffic rules are not being followed. Most of the time the traffic policemen are not there to control the traffic. People are in a competition to move forward and blow their horns to make noise.

Also, firecrackers and loudspeakers during some festival and the weddings are just adding to the noise pollution. Youngsters play music in full volume and dance the whole night disturbing their neighbours.

Old people are mostly affected by the noise pollution. It disturbs the peace of others and leads to headache and mental stress. People who are addicted to loud noise lose their ability to hear properly. It also causes sleeping disorder, high blood pressure and communication problems.

Although the government has rules and regulations against firecrackers and loudspeakers but enforcement is extremely lacking. We need to spread awareness and campaign for its improvement. The horns used in vehicles should be soft and the speed of the vehicles should be limited to minimise noise pollution.

Yours truly

Seema Kumari, St. Xavier’s College of Management and Technology; Digha Patna